Holcim’s capacity to wreak environmental destruction is not limited to East Devon. Last month, the parent company of Aggregate Industries won another quarry battle, this time on its home turf.
We had previously posted about the site in 2021, when police cleared protesters using tear gas and rubber bullets.
Last month, campaigners finally lost their battle and held a ‘funeral’ for the site.
The Federal Court has ruled that cement group Holcim can extend its quarry at the sensitive natural site, but must fill the crater in after it has been exploited. https://t.co/ZP5DJomLie
— swissinfo.ch (@swissinfo_en) January 21, 2023
Starting from the village of La Sarraz, the protesters went up to the Birette plateau at the Mormont site, stopping in front of the pit already dug by Holcim and throwing in a symbolic funeral wreath. Speakers included Swiss Nobel prize-winner for chemistry Jacques Dubochet.Alain Chanson, president of the Association to Save the Mormont, said environmental activists had been defending the site for ten years “against the voracity of Holcim”, but that the Federal Court had just “condemned it to death".The protest follows a decision this month by the Federal Court on appeals by three associations against the extension of the Mormont quarry. The court ruled that while Holcim could exploit the new site known as Birette, it must restore damage to the landscape afterwards. Chanson said that "the fight goes on" to preserve what remains of the Mormont, whose environmental richness was recognized by the court.Activists occupied the site in October 2020 in an attempt to stop the quarry extension. However, they were forcibly evacuated by police in March 2021.
